Tools? Sure. Lumber? Slow down now.

[John Sincerbeaux]

Well, today here on the Big Island, I just paid $250/bf for 8/4 quarter sawn premium curly Koa. Fedexed it home (Texas).
Ouch!

[Roger Marty]

I started out cheap and built my first several pieces out of flat-sawn red oak. I regret it. My time and efforts are too valuable to use cheap wood. Now I choose cherry, mahagony, walnut, or exotics for everything I do.

[Ben Zara]

Well chosen lumber is what sets us apart from IKEA.

[Derek Cohen]

It takes the same time and effort to build a great design from cheap and boring wood, and wood chosen with care that has great figure. Which would you want to keep?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[glenn bradley]

The only reason that's true of me is because the lumber yard is so far away that I have to buy a LOT of wood to make the trip worthwhile. So I buy for multiple upcoming projects, sometimes as much as a year out, just to make it worth the time and gas to go.

I'm with you. There are yards closer but, where I choose to shop (quality, staff, prices) is 1-1/2 hours one way. Like you, I don't just pick up a board or two when I go that far. ;-)

Quote that I have always liked: "Life is too short to use crappy wood." Same applies to hardware. If you value your time and effort.......

Well chosen lumber is what sets us apart from IKEA.

Something I've posted before . . . Choose your parts carefully out of your material. Do not let the "factory edge" dictate your parts.

Examples of good choices and bad choices --

Good-door-Bad-door-1.JPGGood-door-Bad-door-2.JPG

[Julie Moriarty]

Well, today here on the Big Island, I just paid $250/bf for 8/4 quarter sawn premium curly Koa. Fedexed it home (Texas).
Ouch!

Wow! It's gone up quite a bit since I last bought it, about 5 years ago. I think it was around $100 then. Hope you have some razor sharp tools. That stuff is gnarly! Even after honing a new edge on a block plane and skewing it, the koa still chipped.

[Patrick Kane]

Agree with the OP, but its one of the reasons i buy in bulk. One, my wholesaler demands i buy hundreds of board feet at a time or i can take my business elsewhere, AND i typically pounce on CL deals for a thousand or so bdft where the seller just wants it gone and doesnt want to split up the lot. I track what i spend to the T when building stuff for sale, but i spend several grand a few times a year and then dont think about it. This way for personal projects i just walk up to my racks and take what i need without having a transaction in the middle of that process. The last time i specifically purchased lumber for a project is when i purchased just enough for two morris chairs and ottomans. I think it was like $700+ in wood. The WHOLE project i kept thinking, "ouch, ouch, ouch". Boy, was i dumb! The damn leather upholstery was four times that amount!

Anyways, lesson for me is to buy a lot at once when good deals present themselves, and then forget what you paid. And what everyone said about the time and skill invested. I could have dyed maple or oak a walnut tone for my king bed, but then i would spend the next 10,20, 30 years with a tinge of disappointment. I look at that bed every day and admire the beauty of walnut. Now, i did construct all of the hidden support structure for the bed out of dirt cheap ash i purchased out of a barn. Be cheap and save where it doesnt matter, but dont cheat yourself where it counts.

[Brian Nguyen]

Oh man, I wish I have your frugal problem when it comes to wood. I'm currently addicted to finding and buying really rough lumber just to see if the boards have hidden surprises like curls and birdseyes. So now, the garage is currently filled with random boards for no reason other than for me to take a hand plane to them late at night. Pretty sure crack cocaine is less expensive than this addiction.

[Chris Hachet]

Reality check. I rarely get out of the lumber yard for under $500 and I’m just a hobbyist.

Ohhh...yes....I have spent plenty on Lumber through the years.

[Martin Wasner]

I threaten towards the end of every year that next year will be the year I keep track of all of the material that goes through the shop.

I keep track of all of the orders for hardware, (mostly because putting it into a spreadsheet makes rattling numbers off over the phone easier), but I just don't bother with lumber and sheet stock.

Maybe next year.

[Andrew Joiner]

I'm a bit like the OP.
I was a pro for years and bought lumber wholesale. The jobs paid for the lumber. I'd select out and keep all the figured or special stock for "the future". Whether it was for me or a special customer I didn't know, but it was too nice for "run of the mill"(literally) work! I paid wholesale and had a collection of special stock that grew bigger every year. This was in the 70's before it was common to charge more for wide or figured stock.

When I retired I still had a garage full of special lumber. I started hobby woodworking and built a house and shop 2000 miles away from that special lumber. By now internet dealers had pics of figured boards at premium prices. I was spoiled, why would anyone pay that? That's like going from high speed internet to a slower speed!

I found some nice lumber at fair prices for my own hobby use. I got lucky on some finds and was gifted some nice wood by a friend. Funny, as it was so far to haul it, I sold all my special boards from 2000 miles away for less than I paid for it!

[Terry Wawro]

OP here. Thanks for the replies. It's good to find out that I'm not alone in my frugal ways. It's also good to find out that others are out there buying it up by the truckload.

I don't think I'm going to be buying several hundred board feet at a time but it gave me the nudge I needed. In the meantime, time to start checking craigslist for those bargains that many of you posted about. Thanks again.

[Jim Becker]

You will do yourself well by just "keeping yourself aware" of what comes available and taking advantage of that when you are financially able. You never know what you might "step in"...

[Warren Lake]

Years ago a guy at a big company spoke of the old guy I respected the most and said he could make a silk purse out of a sows ear. I let it go as its a hogwash statement by an ignorant person.

Labeling a material as nice or not is a waste of time as there is so much variation that some can be nice while other not so. While Red oak isnt the nicest if you have access to the best and can pick you can make good looking stuff. If you dont there is some damn ugly oak around. Its a whole subject material. Saddly so much is geared to volume. I was always lucky and cultivated a relationship with companies or even had them come to me to buy from them. Then calls we have three lifts of birsdeye, two are top and one is not. You can pick all you want first from them, the first two are this price and the third one which will have some brown in there is this price. So I bought ahead of time and set it aside. I also had specific repeat work and people that allowed me to go through lifts to get the best.

The worst was then a salesman would leave and it would be starting again,"im sorry we dont do that here" One owner was there one day instead at his Villa in the Bahamas, I show up to a new salesman and he said "you are breaking in another one" Ive got pretty mouthy with them in the past and if they really cared about the material then they would care it was used in the best way. Bottom line is its just money to them even the ones that say they care. Ive asked some of them how many trees have you planted and got zero. Meanwhile transport trucks full are loaded and ready to go out across the country for deliveries. Ive likely planted 600 seedlings or so and thats 600 more than them. Buying material is one of the hardest if not the hardest aspect of this trade, if you know and pay attention and lay things out a certain way the stakes go well up and at times it can be pretty frustrating. If you are someone who cares and knows you are still buying a material that is not static from someone whos focus is dollars.

[Josko Catipovic]

I always have a problem spending money on wood. I used to make everything out of oak. Now most of the stuff I make are made out of maple. I never understood why wood is so expensive, it grows on trees.

I thought firewood was expensive until I cut and split two cords on my own.